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Comfort Food You Drink

Sharing Mom's comfort food in a hot beverage with the benefits of healthy green tea seemed like a win-win for the couple behind the innovative new Millies Savory Teas.

Lori Peha Kezner and LLance Kezner are taking preorders for the first batch of the teas, which come in unusual flavors such as Thai Lemongrass and Smoky Facon, all sourced from local producers in Washington State. "We've decided that making our products locally in Washington State is important to us. Everything we use from manufacturers, ingredient brokers, and printers is all from here as well," explained LLance.

The couple stepped away from the kitchen for a few minutes to answer a few questions for Epicurious.

You say your sipping broths are the first of their kind on the market. What gave you the idea to combine green tea and herbs and spices?

Lori liked having a break with a cup of broth as an alternative to coffee or tea. She is a vegetarian, so she was getting tired of the same old bouillon cube options. Also, she didn't want to have all the calories and carbs of an instant cup of soup, so we worked together to create something that would save time, taste like a snack, and have the health benefits of green tea to drink.

Was it difficult leaving your careers [LLance was a high-tech sales executive and Lori a kindergarten teacher], or was it a natural switch?

We made the decision to get into the food business out of necessity. LLance always enjoyed cooking and decided to pursue making food after a job lay-off. It has been an adjustment to a new way of earning income, but each year we have gained more and more of a following for our products, and most importantly, we have fun doing it.

Can you tell us a bit about Millie, who you say is the inspiration behind the product?

Millie was Lori's mom, who passed away in 2005. The family always enjoyed her cooking on a regular basis. At one point there would be 17 people for dinner every other Friday night. The occasion of getting together to eat always connected all our families together. Millie was instrumental in keeping up this tradition, and we wanted to share the idea of comfort from our family tradition through this product.

How do you decide on the flavors you'll use?

For the initial flavors, we thought about flavor and broth combinations that are used in all kinds of ethnic comfort food. We tested many and chose the ones we personally liked.

Will people drink these year-round, or is it primarily a winter beverage, since it's hot?

We feel it is a year-round beverage. It's intended to be an alternative to coffee, tea, or herbal tea. Our vision is that this will be the new item in the office break room pantry or at home, and will be just as appealing as a cup of regular coffee, tea, or any other warm drink. We plan on coming out with several new flavors, and look forward to exploring more cooking uses for our tea/herb and spice combinations.